Filed under: Affinity Groups, Altruism, Authenticity, Blog Messaging, Blogger Influence, Book Reviews, Brand, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Intelligence, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Business Intelligence, Buzz Marketing, CRM, Consumer Generated Media, Conversation, Conversation Marketing, Customer Ratings, Customer Reviews, Customer Service, Customer Supprt, Guerilla Marketing, Honesty, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Integrity, Internet Culture, Managing Conversation, Market Research, Marketing Conversation, Markets are Conversations, Media Virus, Memetics, Messaging Online, New Media, Online Advocacy, Online Brand Reputation, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Messaging, Online Monitoring, Online Outreach, Online Participation, Online Reputation, Online Reputation Management, Online Reviewers, Online Reviews, Online Virtual Communities, Reputation Management, Social Intelligence, Social Meda, Social Networking, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

The culture of participatory social media is having some surprisingly significant effects on both the way satisfied customers play a role in contributing to the marketing message development of products and services. And it is also playing an increasingly important role in defining the key touchpoints that customers use in the deciding factors one what to purchase. What makes this all the more noteworthy is that much of this is rooted in offline purchases. I’m putting this together from two recent studies…

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1 Comment » Posted on December 2nd, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Advertisements, Advertising, Affinity Groups, Affinity Sites, Birds of a Feather, Blog Strategy, Brand Advocacy, Brand Promotion, Branding, Branding Online, Buzz Marketing, Consumer Generated Media, Conversation, Conversation Marketing, Digital Marketing, Facebook, Facebook Apps, Guerilla Marketing, Hearts and Minds, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Managing Conversation, Marketing, Marketing Blogs, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Industry, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, MySpace, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, Online Advertising, Online Applications, Online Brand Promotion, Online Branding, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Engagement, Online Entertainment, Online Evangelism, Online Influence, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Outreach, Online Participation, Online Strategy, Popular Culture, Promotional Blog, Social Meda, Social Networking, Social Networks, Sponsored Blog, Sponsored Blogging, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Virtual Communities, Web 2.0, Web Advertising, Web Strategy, Widgets and Gadgets, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

The November 8th edition of The Economist has an article that asks us “Will Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites transform advertising?”

In truth, the article is poorly written. It asks the wrong question, it’s lazily researched, and it provides little actual theory or empirical evidence to justify the premise they are trying to suppose. Perhaps the reason for this is that The Economist is a general news publication – one that I respect – and that the article was intended for a mainstream readership that’s likely mostly interested in reading about general trends and not deeper analysis. But nevertheless…

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No Comments » Posted on November 11th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Activating Bloggers, Advertising, Blog Strategy, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Blogging, Brand, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Intelligence, Brand Promotion, Branding, Branding Online, Conversation Marketing, Digital Marketing, Guerilla Marketing, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Internet Culture, Internet Strategy, Marketing, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, New Media, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, Online Branding, Online Collaboration, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Promotional Strategy, Social Meda, Strategic Consulting, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0, Web Advertising, Word-of-Mouth, YouTube Marketing

Kelly Mooney has a great piece in AdAge, For Relevance, Think Three Way, in which she talks about the concept of ‘triangulation’ involving the brand, the customer, and the community and that all three need to embrace one another. She also blogs at MooneyThinks.

She’s quite right in that, for many of us, we’ve moved much of our media gathering experience online. Websites, blogs, social networks, forums are the areas that we discuss brands or experiences with brands or our impressions of brands.

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1 Comment » Posted on October 9th, 2007 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Abraham Harrison, Abraham Harrison LLC, Astroturfing, Authenticity, Black Hat Marketing, Black Hat PR, Blog Counter-Messaging, Blog Messaging, Blogger Effect, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Client Service, Cluetrain Manifesto, Conversation Audit, Conversation Marketing, Counter Messaging, Crisis Management, Customer Ratings, Customer Reviews, Customer Service, Customer Supprt, David Weinberger, Defensive SEO, Domain Name Registration, Domain Name Strategy, Domain Registration, Edelman, Flogging, Flogs, Google Gaming, Google PageRank, Google Search, Guerilla Marketing, Hate Speech, Honesty, Industry Reputation, Integrity, Internet Forensics, Internet Strategy, Managing Conversation, Marketing Conversation, Marketing Hubris, Marketing Industry, Marketing Language, Marketing Strategy, Markets are Conversations, Messaging Online, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Blogs, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, New PR, New Public Relations, Online Advocacy, Online Brand Promotion, Online Brand Protection, Online Brand Reputation, Online Branding, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Conversation, Online Crisis Management, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Influence, Online Marketing, Online Media, Online Messaging, Online Outreach, Online PR, Online Participation, Online Public Relations, Online Reputation, Online Reputation Management, Online Reviewers, Online Reviews, Online Strategy, Online Virtual Communities, Open Kimono, PageRank, Passion Chamber, Personal Brand, Pitching Bloggers, Professional Blogging, Promotional Blog, Promotional SEO, Promotional Strategy, Propaganda Warfare, Protective SEO, Public Relations, Public Relations Bloggers, Public Relations Blogs, Public Relations Industry, Publicity Blog, Publicity Blogging, Relationship Marketing, Reputation Management, Reputation Rehabilitation, SEM and SEO, SEO, SERM, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Reputation Management, Search Engine Strategy, Search Engines, Search Reputation Management, Strategic Consulting, Viral Marketing, Viral Media, Viral Propagation, Web Strategy, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Check out the article in last Thursday’s Times, Dealing With the Damage From Online Critics, that addresses how to handle consumers who develop a personal vendetta against your company. Well, you could send lawyers but legal cease-and-desists generally just make the customer madder than hell and it isn’t hard to just start yet another attack site.

I hate to say it, sucking less always helps. Start with treating your customers better. Also, be sure to register lots of domain names and work on your online reputation aggressively before it becomes a problem.

Online, the best defense is a good offense and an ounce of online promotion is worth a pound of cure. Here are some great commented-by-me excerpts from the article, Dealing With the Damage From Online Critics, so you can get a gist:

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3 Comments » Posted on October 8th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison

Filed under: Blogger Activation, Blogger Effect, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Ethics, Blogger Influence, Blogger Outreach, Blogger Relations, Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Brand Intelligence, Brand Promotion, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Online Reviewers, Online Reviews, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Yelp

All businesses should put some time and energy into reaching out to online influencers. The Wall Street Journal Weekend has a great article, The Price of a Four-Star Rating, on how restaurants, cafes, and bars can do a little face-to-face blogger outreach and engagement to great effect: dominating and pwning their reviews on Yelp!

Last August, Dine spent about $1,500 on an event for members of Yelp, a Web site where consumers post reviews and rate restaurants. The nearly 100 members were treated to an open bar, duck roulade appetizers and red velvet cupcakes for dessert. As a bonus, they all received certificates for discounts on subsequent meals. The result: a torrent of favorable reviews on Yelp. Most reviewers mentioned that they attended a Yelp event, though few highlighted that the food and drink was free.

$1,500 is peanuts, even for a small business, when the outcome can result in a 4-star rating — and it can be much much less — or much more luxurious, too! Additionally, the more folks who review you on sites like Yelp, the less likely that any one particular post will gut your reputation for all to see.

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No Comments » Posted on October 6th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison

Filed under: Brand, Brand Advocacy, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Branding, Branding Online, Google, Googleverse

Google

The latest Economist has the headline “Who’s Afraid of Google?” In this first article, apparently everyone is afraid of Google and all its information it has on “us”. I thought this article was a little harsh ending by calling Google’s slogan, “Don’t be Evil”, “trite”.

But, actually it wasn’t the first article that I wanted to talk about it was the second article, “Inside the Googleplex” because it touches on the corner stone of Google’s power and dominance. Which, is (a) its ability to garner huge amounts of traffic, while (b) providing perceived relevance to both consumer (web user) and advertiser. “Linking” these two up is what Google does best!

First, Google’s share of web searches must remain stable. Thanks to its brand, this looks manageable. Google’s share has steadily increased over the years. It was about 64% in America in July, according to Hitwise. That is almost three times the volume of its nearest rival, Yahoo!. In parts of Europe, India and Latin America, Google’s share is even higher. Only in South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the Czech Republic does it trail local incumbents.

Brand! Maintaining brand is the most important part - loss of perceived relevance of searches or any other level of trust would definitely have a negative impact on Google, both amongst consumers and advertisers. If Google misuses information that it gathers from search, email, document applications etc, it will hurt - and hurt bad! The depth of the pain will depend on what excatly happens, how it happens and when.

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1 Comment » Posted on September 5th, 2007 by Saul Wainwright

Filed under: Brand Advocacy, Brand Ambassador, Conversation Marketing, Influencers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Online Advocacy, Online Brand Promotion, Online Evangelism
‘Around one-quarter of all online adults are thought to be influential brand advocates, but they spend more time online researching and purchasing than spreading the word according to a new report from JupiterResearch “Brand Advocates; Creating Rewarding Relationships.”‘ Via WebProNews

In my humble opinion, one cannot define someone who spends “more time online researching and purchasing than spreading the word” an influential brand advocate, can you? He may indeed be an influencer and a maven but unless he has a platform, a voice and the interest in actually evangelizing, he is not a brand advocate.

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No Comments » Posted on August 16th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison


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